Nationwide Reviews in Portland, OR Area

Pros

good employees, flexible schedule, fair benefits package

Cons

advancement opportunity, lack of professionalism.

Advice to Senior Management

Reward based on merit. Improve communication

Pros

Free parking, Good pay, Vacation, Decent Benefits

Cons

Value bottom line over people
Schedules based on arbitrary numbers
Seniority means nothing
constant fear of being laid off

Advice to Senior Management

I hope your poor decisions catch up to you.

Pros

Coworkers
Reputable company
Company tries to do the right thing for their employees
Lots of benefits, tuition assistance etc.
Compared to most insurance companies higher flexibility and innovation

Cons

Strict divison of service and sales hampers smooth customer experience
Company used to really listen to what employees have to say about what customers want, now the company seems to be loosing that ability.
CEO stays of spotlight, don't know what ranking to give him. He hasn't bothered to give the company's employees a clear direction.

Advice to Senior Management

Get Nationwide back in the top five of JD Powers & Associates ranking.

Pros

Good benefits, 18 days vacation to start, flexible work schedules, great co-workers. Environment prior to last year of operations being open in Portland was positive and management always had contests going on for different aspects of job performance as well as activities for events and holidays. When they lay people off they give them 60 days notice and don't expect you to come in to work during that time, therefore you are still paid and employed up until the 60th day, severance is also paid based on how long you have worked for the company and re-location to a location they are expanding is an option if you are willing to pick up and move states.

Cons

The division I worked in (NSS or Nationwide Direct) was not very good about keeping the job description and expectations stable, in the 2.5 years I worked there they were constantly changing expectations and re-defining the job role. One day they would say do something this way, a week later they would revise and it would be almost completely different. The employee morale in the former Portland location was extremely negative for the last year the location was open since everyone had the foreboding feeling they were going to shut the location down and we would all be laid off, which in the end is exactly what happened.

Advice to Senior Management

Provide a clear job description and expectations that don't change every 4 months.

Pros

stability and opportunity for advancement

Cons

management style and communication with middle management

Advice to Senior Management

empower middle management

Pros

They pay for insurance licensing, company is growing in other states and could be a good opportunity to move up if willing to relocate, and engagement survey handled by Gallup.

Cons

Expectations high and cause a lot of friction between associates and management. Too few development opportunities on a local level. If a person is honest on the engagement survey the supervisor comes back to the team with a guilt trip about how they'll likely be fired.

Advice to Senior Management

Figure out what you are doing and get back to making employees feel like they are the reason Nationwide is in business. Regular statements from management at every level about how if a person doesn't like the job they should leave (in a down economy) are inappropriate.

Pros

Good benefits, decent pay, flexible hours

Cons

Management is totally incompetent and treats you like a child. The center is set up as a micromanaged call center, and they don't actually train you to do the job they hire you for.

Advice to Senior Management

fire all supervisors and managers and hire some people who have experience in the industry and know how to interact with the employees. A business degree would help with this problem.

Pros

Tuition assistance, 401k, benefits, amazing relationships with coworkers

Cons

Imagine having someone tell you how to do your job when they themselves cannot open up the computer program to show you how. Imagine trying to remember Underwriting guidelines for 45 separate states you sell in and service. Good luck selling a CA policy mid month and expecting to get paid on it during the same month. These are just a small few ideas of what it's like to be a Nationwide sales agent. Schedules (which primarily involve night and weekends) do not have any basis on sales. Complete lack of communication to sales floor in regards to pertinent processes and changes. The sales agent role is laughable on many accounts.

Advice to Senior Management

To much to say here. Feedback may work at the home office in OH, but this office does not respond well.

Pros

Great fellow employees who are very supportive

Cons

Imcompetent Sr and local Management and Supervisors. Nationwide used to be a pretty good place to work until being taken over by the Allied Management. They have one thing on their mind and that is to downsize to a default. One person who stated " They do not value input from anyone over 45 yrs old" is very typically correct. For the seasoned Insurance Professional, Nationwide is like going back to Kindergarten. One one hand your told that your a professional Insurance counselor and on the other hand you are treated like a child with lack of respect, condesending remarks and bombarded with unrealistic goals by those at the supervisory and management level. The morale is in the toilet, at least at this particular office. All goal attainment is now attempted by threat tactics. Your are forced to attempt to call current customers 7 or 8 times within a 6 month period to go over their policies with them. My experience is that 95% of them consider this to be badgerment. Working there is much like working in boiler room/call center environment, non of which fosters a professional working environment. On top of all this they force you to be licensed in 45 different states and expect you to keep abrest of all the daily changes for all the states. Their software tools are old, antiquated and anything new in the way of tools is simply a band aid on top of what they already have to work with. The management seems to value mostly the employee with a drone/worker bee mentality that never speaks up and just shuffles along from day to day. If you are looking for a challenging rewarding career with upward mobility for those of any age I would highly reccomend planing on living in either Des Moines, Iowa or Columbus, Ohio as this local office has little to nothing to offer you.

Advice to Senior Management

Decide which you wish to be, an Insurance Company or a Bank! Immediately establish weekly focus groups with all your employees and let them speak freely with out fear of reprisal. Take a look at that fact you have some real problems with some of your local management and supervisors as far as attitude, knowledge of Insurance is concerned. Stop padding the pocket books of only the Sr. level management at the Home Office level while allowing the folks out in the trenches to financially flounder. Begin to realize that you cannot become number one when your employee morale is 10 feet below sealevel. You badly need to start staffing your local management with seasoned insurance professionals in lieu of people with call center backgrounds who have no idea what a basic tool like a "broker of record letter" is. It would be good to wake up and realize that the best employees you had are the folks that now work for someone else!

Pros

When I started years ago, the company really showed their appreciation for their employees. Great benefits, % match on investments, flexible time management and little perks like Christmas turkeys and bonuses. They also valued their employees and treated them well. Now? They've taken away everything worth working for! So now there are no more good reasons to work for them.

Cons

Upper Management keeps reinventing the wheel without taking the time to actually look at what is already in place. They give employees surveys, then when they turn out so negative the employees end up having to retake them! They don't ask for or listen to employee input. They praise with one hand and slap with the other.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to your people! Instead of paying outside consultants, poll your own employees for ideas and ways to better manage departments and projects, and ways to save money! You have innovative people working for you, LISTEN to them! They would have advised you to start an agressive ad campaign when the west coast didn't recognize the old brand.